A law from 1799 is back in the spotlight, after 47 Republican senators sent a letter to Iran’s leaders during sensitive U.S. negotiations with Iran. The law, called the Logan Act, says that a citizen who communicates with a foreign government to influence the government’s actions could be jailed and face a fine. But legal experts say the law is out of date, and any prosecution likely wouldn’t get anywhere in court. Read More »

A letter signed by 47 Senate Republicans warning Iranian leaders that the next president could simply toss out any nuclear deal that Congress doesn’t approve represented a loud shot across the bow of both American and Iranian nuclear negotiators.

It also represented a kind of Senate coming-out party for Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Read More »

Dozens of Republican senators wrote an open letter to the leadership of Iran, warning them that any deal signed between Iran and President Barack Obama might not last beyond his presidency, without the Senate signing off on it as well. Here is the text of the letter.Read More »

Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas lost his bid for re-election Tuesday to Republican Tom Cotton, a first-term congressman who argued that the incumbent’s support for President Barack Obama’s health-care law and other policies was out of step with the increasingly conservative state.

The Associated Press projected Mr. Cotton to win shortly after polls closed. The result marks the GOP’s second net gain of the evening in the race to control the Senate. Read More »

As the long 2014 election campaign draws to a close, a look at how it all began in one key race–in Arkansas–is like a step into the wayback machine.

Take a gander at the first television ad aired by Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor in May 2013, more than 500 days before the election: It focused on a vote he took against President Barack Obama‘s gun control legislation — a hot issue at the time, just a few months after the massacre of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but one that has long since faded in Congress.

That is a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the campaign. Read More »

U.S. lawmakers are voicing concern and criticism over warming ties between the Obama administration and Iran, calling it a strategic miscalculation and an affront to Washington’s decades-long alliance with Israel.

Pointing to potential consequences, members of Congress are demanding greater oversight of negotiations now nearing the final stages between Iran and global powers seeking to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions. The two sides are working toward a Nov. 24 deadline. Read More »

With recent football scandals turning attention to the issue of domestic violence, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor Wednesday released a new campaign ad criticizing his GOP opponent for voting against legislation to renew federal programs to aid victims of domestic violence.

The ad features Paulette Hill, director of a shelter for domestic violence victims in Mountain Home, Ark., who cites GOP Rep. Tom Cotton’s voting record as evidence that he is “not doing anything to help and voted against protecting women and children from domestic violence.” Read More »

In a sign of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s fundraising prowess, four top-tier Republican Senate candidates are personally attending the Tuesday event he is headlining on their behalf in Florida.

The candidates were not obligated to attend the fundraiser in Tampa, just six weeks before the Nov. 4 election. But Cory Gardner of Colorado, Joni Ernstof Iowa, Monica Wehby of Oregon and Tom Cotton of Arkansas are all expected. Only Dan Sullivan of Alaska is unable to make it. Read More »

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.